Tuesday, April 9, 2013

A Taste of Summer

I suppose we're on the third or so beautiful day in a row now, but it wasn't until today that I finally got out early and really took advantage. I met up with a neighbor and her kids at the neighborhood park, wearing Mia all the way. (Sadly, it was Michael's nap time, so he missed out on that adventure, but had a special Daddy-son walk with Tom later in the afternoon.)

That was when it finally struck me how different the weather has suddenly become. It wasn't just warm, it was borderline hot, and very sunny. It felt like summer, all of a sudden.

After trying out a few slides and a swing (and deciding afterwards that she didn't like any of them), climbing on a few metal horses and some play equipment, and running circles around her friend in the grass, Abby got a first-class ride home in her trusty stroller, thoroughly rosy-cheeked and winded.

Unfortunately, Tom and I waited a bit too long to get her seated for lunch, and overtiredness (and probably overheatedness, since she refused to drink her water) kicked in. While she and Tom retreated to the cooler basement, where she could more comfortably work out her tantrum, Michael and I started lunch.

I decided to give him his sippy of milk in the booster seat to see what would happen. He drank the whole thing, in between mouthfuls of PB & J sandwich (and it wasn't even heated as thoroughly as usual). I think we are well on our way to drinking our milk cold, and with mealtimes, like the big folks do!


It probably seems a small thing, but especially given that it took Abby until around 20 months to get to the same point, I'm pretty proud to witness it.

Michael clearly thinks it's no big deal.


The warmer weather has caused some difficulties as well, however, in that we now have to rethink how to keep the dormer attic bedrooms comfortable for the kids. The nursery is at least partially insulated, so it doesn't get as uncomfortably warm quite as quickly, but Abby's room is not insulated at all.

Though she put up no fuss at nap time (and hasn't for days- fancy that, when bedtime is such a struggle!), she ended up taking a rather short nap, and I suspect that it was because her room got so warm over the course of the afternoon. She woke up pretty sweaty.

Perhaps that worked in our favor, though, because for the first time in about a week, we appear to have her asleep before 10:00 pm. Indeed, we actually got her to sleep on time! I'm now tempted to hope, just a little, that things are really on the up-and-up, after hearing Tom's confession that most of last night's troubles likely stemmed from the fact that he forgot to offer Abby a binky until a couple of hours into the whole ordeal. The reason we're still allowing her to use one at night and naptime is that she's proven, over and over, that she simply can't sleep without.

Definitely a problem to solve for another day. For now, I am reveling in the fact that the house is (nearly) quiet at the early hour of 8:30, and I have only one baby left to fuss over.

Mia had a pretty rough night last night, since she seems to have picked up some version of what Michael has, and had to have her nose sucked out to allow her to breathe at around 3 am. She spent half the night propped on my chest to ease her discomfort from all of the drainage, and has had a bit of trouble eating throughout the day due to continual congestion.

So, perhaps it's just a need to catch up on sleep that's caused it, but she's had two independent naps today. I got her to sleep for 30 minutes in her swing after lunch, and she just woke up from a 90 minute nap in her bouncy chair that she began during dinner. If she really is ready to take the plunge into napping outside of my arms, would be just in the nick of time. Much as I am loving the constant snuggles, having a baby practically attached to your lap or chest is definitely not the coolest way to spend a very warm day.